Power sector needs to double growth, says Shinde

New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) The power sector should double its growth rate to gain power sufficiency, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said here Monday. Shinde made his comments at the inauguration of the induction programme of National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) executive trainees.

The country faced a power deficit of 73,050 million units between April 2007 and March 2008, according to an internal official report.

Around 56 percent of India’s rural population or 78 million households do not have access to electricity.

The mismatch between demand and supply will widen in time to come if the supply side is not improved, the report stated.

Minister of state for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh, who was also present at the NTPC function, said retention of trained manpower was the biggest challenge before NTPC.

Ramesh advised the company to rework policies to provide for higher education facilities and other aspirations of young engineers.

Altogether 464 candidates from various engineering institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, joined NTPC Monday.